McDonough, Patricia M. and Shannon Calderone. 2004. <em>The Meaning of Money: Perceptual Differences Between College Counselors and Low-Income Families About College Costs and Financial Aid.</em> American Behavioral Scientist 49(12):1703&#8212;1718.<br />
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	Using interviews with 63 counselors at 14 low-income high schools in Southern California, this study explores what counselors know about the financial aid process, their perceptions of African-American and Latino students' financial concerns, and how counselors disseminate aid information depending on their assumptions of the student population. McDonough and Calderone find that counselors complain that students are passive, assume that college is unaffordable, and are afraid to apply to college as a result. Counselors may steer students toward community colleges because they think that they will be more able to afford it. The authors argue that counselors' biases affect students negatively, especially minority students who may be able to receive strong aid packages at private institutions. The study concludes that further research is necessary to reveal how counselors perceive the college worthiness of their students, and how their perceptions lead students to applying to more or less prestigious colleges.